


Party Animal rewritten

by sarahgirl1998



Category: Happy Tree Friends
Genre: Birthday, Comedy, Humor, Sneezing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:08:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24004108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarahgirl1998/pseuds/sarahgirl1998
Summary: Rewritten version of Party Animal but it’s Lumpy’s birthday instead of Flippy’s and it goes wrong way faster than the original. It still works out, though.





	Party Animal rewritten

“Alright, just a little more vanilla.”

Flaky applied a small amount of extra vanilla to the mixture, then picked up a spoon and started mixing. As she was doing so, however, Nutty jittered into the kitchen, seeing what she was doing.

“Mmm! That looks tasty!” said Nutty. “Can I try some?”

“No, Nutty.”

Nutty stopped jittering, looking disappointed. “Why not?”

“I’m sorry, but this cake is for the party,” said Flaky. “You really shouldn’t have any before it starts.”

“Oh, okay...”

“Why don’t you go help the others?” Flaky suggested.

Nutty nodded in understanding and made his way out of the kitchen. Flaky sighed in relief and continued mixing. After a few moments, she poured the mixture into a pan and placed it into the oven, then switched it on.

In the living room, all of the Tree Friends - Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Petunia, Mime, the Mole, and Sniffles - were setting up party decorations. Mime was making some balloon animals, The Mole was setting up a pin-the-tail-on-the-unicorn game, Cuddles and Toothy were setting up streamers and a banner that read “Happy Birthday,” and Giggles and Petunia had finished wrapping a good number of gifts.

Nutty looked around for a way to help his friends, but then the punch bowl caught his sights. He went over to it, picked up the box that had made the punch, and looked at it.

“Sugar free?!” He cringed in disbelief.

He put down the box, picked up a bowl of sugar and poured it into the punch. Then he grabbed a ladle and began to stir the punch with it.

“They’ll thank me for this,” said Nutty. “Nobody should EVER have to drink sugar without punch!”

After a few minutes, Flaky heard the timer go off. She put on some oven mitts, took out the pan and set it on a cooling rack. It was a cake now, so she applied some delicious vanilla frosting to the top of it as well as the sides.

“Perfect!” said Flaky.

She used a large spatula to place the cake on a plate, and then covered it up with a platter lid. Then she made her way out of the kitchen, where everyone else had almost finished. Nutty had finished stirring the punch and sampled it, and now it tasted much better.

“Is everything ready?” Flaky asked.

“Yep!” Cuddles replied.

“It took him a couple of tries, but The Mole finally got the unicorn game up,” Toothy pointed out.

“And I got this apple bobbing game up,” Sniffles replied.

“All the presents are ready,” said Giggles.

“And now this punch tastes great!” said Nutty.

“Oh, excellent!” Flaky looked out the window and gasped. Someone was coming, so she ran away from the window to get into the perfect position.

“He’s coming! Shh!” she told everyone.

Everyone else got into the perfect positions as well, while The Mole reached over and turned off the light, filling the room with darkness.

The door opened to reveal Lumpy, who reached over to the light and turned it on. As soon as he did so, however, this happened.

“SURPRIIIIISE!!!”

“AAAAAAH!!!” Lumpy screamed in horror and shielded his body with both hands. “JESUS CHRIST!!!”

He then noticed that Flaky was one of the Tree Friends who had scared him, without getting scared herself.

“Uh, Flaky?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re not scared of what you said...?” said Lumpy. When everyone realized this, they all looked at Flaky in surprise.

“Oh, sorry,” Flaky apologized. She screamed in horror, too, “AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!” And then she sighed with relief as she returned to normal. Letting all of her fear out at that moment must have made her feel better.

“So, uh... why’d you all scare me?” Lumpy then asked, but then he realized and smiled. “Oh!”

Flaky brought the cake over to Lumpy while everyone watched. Lumpy looked like he was happy, but what nobody realized was that he had a steadily growing tickle in his nose.

“Alright, Lumpy... Make a wish!” said Flaky.

“Uh, actually, guys...” Lumpy stated. “I don’t think I can...”

“Why not?” Flaky wanted to know.

“This is gonna scare you, but I’m going to sneeze...” Lumpy then lowered his eyelids, held his hand in front of his twitching nose, and began to inhale dramatically.

“Aaaaaah... Haaaaaaah... AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAH...”

Everyone gasped in realization as Flaky became horrified.

“Oh no!!!”

With a final dramatic inhale, Lumpy tilted his upper body as far back as it could go, and then gave a huge sneeze that wouldn’t be out of place in a horror movie.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!”

Lumpy’s sneeze not only scared everybody - especially poor Flaky - but managed to blow all of the candles on the cake right out. Nobody noticed, but it was also lightly sprayed with his saliva.

Lumpy sniffled loudly as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. Everyone stood where they were, completely shocked.

“L-Lumpy!” cried Sniffles. “Are you alright?!”

“Yeah...” Lumpy continued to rub his nose. “I’m not sure where that came from, though. Sorry I scared you, guys...”

Flaky still looked a bit frightened, but calmed down a bit. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out a tissue.

“It’s alright, Lumpy. Here, you might want to blow your nose.”

Lumpy took the tissue and blew his nose rather loudly into it. He then sniffled a few times as he wiped his nose, and Flaky picked up a knife and walked over to the cake. She began to cut it into pieces, making sure everyone would have enough. Meanwhile, Sniffles hugged Lumpy in sympathy.

“Gesundheit, Lumpy... I hope you’re not coming down with a cold.”

“Me too...” said Lumpy with another sniffle. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say I sneezed because of the candles’ smoke or something...”

After almost a minute, Flaky had finished cutting up the cake. She gave a piece to everyone along with a paper plate and a fork, and then served herself a piece. She dipped the fork into the frosting of the cake and took it into her mouth, chewing happily.

Unfortunately for Flaky, this piece was from the exact portion of the cake Lumpy had sneezed on, and the large amount of germs made their way into her mouth, and down her throat.

“Ugh...” Flaky’s eyelids lowered as she felt a painful sensation in her belly. The germs had found their way into her stomach and were now causing it to hurt. She placed her plate on the nearest table she could find, then placed her hands on her poor tummy. Tears of discomfort began to fill her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Flaky?” Cuddles asked.

“Doesn’t it taste good?” asked Toothy.

“It does, but... I don’t feel good...” Flaky whimpered.

Lumpy, who had been the last to receive a serving of cake, noticed she wasn’t feeling well. He put down his slice and walked over to her, looking at her in concern.

“You’re not feeling good?” he asked, and Flaky shook her head. “Do you want me to tickle you or something?”

“Please, don’t...” Flaky begged. “It’s your birthday, so you’re the one who’s supposed to be tickled. And besides, I’m allergic to tickles...”

“Oh, yeah,” Lumpy said. But hearing himself and Flaky mention tickling brought that familiar tickle back to his nose, and as his nostrils flared up, so came another suspenseful buildup.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaah... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...” He tilted his neck further and further, and then, with a final dramatic breath, he exploded. “HaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CCCCCHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

Lumpy shot his upper body forwards as he released another giant sneeze, with a huge amount of saliva firing out of his nose and hitting Flaky in the face. She cried out in surprise, and then rubbed her arm against her face, trying to clean the spit off.

Lumpy stood where he was, rubbing his nose again with his forefinger and sniffling some more. “S-Sorry, Flaky...”

“It’s alright, I guess...” said Flaky. “But at least put your hand or a tissue over your mouth, please...”

By the time Flaky had removed most of the spit from her face, a rather strong tickle had made its way into her nose.

“Aaaah, haaaaah... Haaaaaah-TCHYEEEEEEEWWWWWWW!!!”

Unlike Lumpy’s sneezes, this one had no visible spray - but like Lumpy’s sneezes, it was quite loud and dramatic. Flaky stood where she was, sulking as she rubbed her nose with her forefinger.

Lumpy sniffled again. “You alright, Flaky?”

“Actually...” Flaky gave a loud sniffle. Her nose looked red now. “I don’t feel so good...”

When Sniffles heard her sneeze as well as her comment, he gasped in concern and went over to her as fast as he could. He placed his hand on her forehead.

“Oh, Flaky, I think you’re running a fever!” said Sniffles. “We’ve gotta get you to bed.”

“HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--“ Lumpy gave another dramatic inhale, and then fired another monstrous sneeze. “TCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

This time he put his hand over his mouth so he wouldn’t spray anyone, but it wasn’t much help - his hand became soaked with his spit. Lumpy stood where he was, sulking as he rubbed his now-red nose with his forefinger.

“Uuugh... Sniffles?”

“Yeah...?” Sniffles looked like the sneeze had caught him off-guard.

“C-can you get me to bed, too?”

“Oh, sure, Lumpy. But why?”

Lumpy gestured for Sniffles to feel his face. Understanding, Sniffles reached up to place his hand on Lumpy’s cheeks. They felt hot.

“Aww, Lumpy... You’re burning up,” said Sniffles sadly. “Yeah, we definitely need to get you into bed, too.”

Sniffles wrapped his arm around Lumpy’s shoulder and brought him out of the living room, with Lumpy picking up his slice of cake as he left. The other Tree Friends stayed where they were, looking on in concern as well as disappointment. They were all worried about Lumpy, but also disappointed that the party would have to be called off. Flaky, however, was the most disappointed of all.

“This is all my fault...” Flaky whimpered. Before she can say anything more, she needed to sneeze again. In less than five seconds, she had released another spray-less sneeze. “Aaah... Chyew!”

Giggles heard the sneeze and handed her a tissue, which Flaky wiped her nose with after briefly rubbing her nose with her forefinger.

“It’s not you, Flaky,” said Giggles. “None of us know how this happened. It just... did.”

“I know,” Flaky replied as she sulked. “But I did scream surprise without getting scared, even if I still screamed afterward...” She sniffled loudly. “I think something is seriously wrong with me.”

Meanwhile, Sniffles had brought Lumpy into the guest room of Flaky’s house and tucked him into the bed. Lumpy then retrieved his slice of cake from the end table and took a bite - but when he swallowed, his nose tickled massively.

“Aaaaaaaaaah... AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.... HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH--“ The inhales echoed all throughout the house, and then he gave another massive sneeze. “CHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!”

As Sniffles cringed in absolute horror from the sneeze, he could hear Flaky screaming her head off. Lumpy then recovered from the sneeze and rubbed his nose with his forefinger.

“Gesundheit!!” said Sniffles.

“Thank you...” Lumpy continued to rub his nose as he put down his slice of cake. He couldn’t have any more; it had already made him sneeze loudly enough to send Flaky back to the horrified, screaming self everyone knew her to be.

Sniffles handed him a tissue, but Lumpy couldn’t even wipe his nose before he entered a nonstop sneezing fit of loud sneezes. Sniffles was looking on in fear and worry the whole time, but he was lucky Lumpy kept covering his nose with the tissue.

After a long minute, Lumpy’s fit finally finished. He sniffled as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger, and then blew his nose loudly into his tissue.

“Oh, my...” said Sniffles. “Gesundheit, Lumpy.”

“Thadk you...” Lumpy wiped his nose with his tissue. His voice sounded very congested now that he was finished sneezing.

Sniffles handed him a box of tissues. “I’m gonna go check on Flaky. In the meantime, I’d like you to stay in bed. You need your rest.”

Lumpy nodded in understanding as Sniffles left the room. When he went downstairs and returned to the party, however, the first thing he saw was Flaky crying into her hands, with Cuddles and Giggles trying to comfort her.

“Flaky? What’s wrong?!” Sniffles asked in concern.

“This is all my fault!” Flaky cried with a loud sniffle. “If I hadn’t thrown Lumpy a surprise party, I wouldn’t have scared him and made him get sick!”

“Flaky, no...” Sniffles tried to make her think twice about the real reason Lumpy got sick, but it wasn’t working. It was then that Sniffles realized that maybe it was her fault.

“You know what, Flaky? Maybe throwing Lumpy a surprise birthday party really was a bad idea...” said Sniffles.

“Oh, you bet it was...” Flaky whimpered, then sneezed again. “Haaah-chyewww!”

As Flaky rubbed her nose wistfully, Giggles pulled out a tissue from a nearby box. She gave it to Flaky, who wiped her nose on it.

“Maybe if I call Hero and ask him to rewind time to before Lumpy’s party, we can set things right,” Sniffles suggested.

“That’s a great idea, Sniffles!” said Toothy.

“Yeah, why don’t you try it?” Cuddles agreed.

Sniffles nodded, then went over to one of the windows and opened it up. Then he called for the superhero of the forest.

“Splendid! Help us! We need you~!”

Splendid heard a familiar voice and zipped over to where it was coming from.

“What’s wrong, darlings?” Splendid wanted to know.

“Hero, we need you to turn back time,” said Sniffles.

“We threw a surprise birthday party for Lumpy, and not only did I NOT traumatize myself, we somehow caused Lumpy to get sick!” Flaky explained. “And then he got me sick!” She sniffled loudly.

“Oh, how unfortunate,” Splendid said in sympathy. “You poor thing... and poor Lumpy.”

“We need you to turn back time to the beginning of this day, before we set up Lumpy’s party,” Sniffles said. “We’ve got to make it so it’s not a surprise party so that Lumpy won’t be scared, and Flaky won’t feel bad about herself!”

Splendid nodded in understanding. “If it’ll make all of you happy, I’ll do it.”

He then levitated off the ground, and then flew out of sight as fast as he could. He zoomed backwards around the world at an incredibly fast rate, causing most of the events of Lumpy’s surprise party to be undone. When he’d gotten to the right time - around eight-thirty in the morning, Splendid returned to earth, arriving at Flaky’s house. He knocked on the door, and Sniffles opened it.

“I’ve turned back time, Sniffles,” said Splendid. “Now all you have to do is tell Lumpy and the others that you’ll be throwing his birthday party here.”

Sniffles smiled. “Oh, thank you, Hero!”

“You’re welcome, darling,” Splendid replied, also smiling. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

“No, thank you,” said Sniffles, “I think we’re okay from here.”

“Alright, then. If anything else happens, feel free to let me know. Goodbye for now.”

Splendid then turned and took off into the sky, while Sniffles stayed where he was, waving goodbye to him. Sniffles then shut the door, just as Flaky was walking up to him.

“Who was that?” Flaky wanted to know.

“Oh, it was just Splendid paying a little visit,” said Sniffles. “I’ve decided to make a change in plans. We’re not making this a surprise party for Lumpy.”

“Huh?” Flaky raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Now that I think about it, throwing Lumpy a surprise party would probably make him really scared,” said Sniffles. “And you‘ll wind up yelling surprise along with us, too, which I don’t think you can - scratch that, should - be able to do without scaring yourself.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s a good point,” said Flaky. She pulled out her smartphone. “In that case, I’ll just tell all our friends not to shout surprise when Lumpy arrives.”

“That’s pretty much what I wanted to do,” Sniffles commented. As he spoke, Flaky texted almost all of their friends about their change in plans. “Thanks, Flaky. I’ll tell him to come over to our house at the time this party’s ready.”

Sniffles pulled out his smartphone as well, went into the Messages app, and sent a text message to Lumpy. It mentioned that he and his friends had a surprise for him, and that he needed to come to Flaky’s house in order to find out what it was. Lumpy sent a message in return, agreeing to come over, and then Sniffles thanked him.

“Alright, that’s done and over with,” said Sniffles.

“And I’ve told everybody else,” said Flaky. “Now let’s wait for our friends and get this started, shall we?”

“Okay!” Sniffles said with an excited smile.

After some time, their friends came: Cuddles, Giggles, Toothy, Petunia, Nutty, Mime and The Mole. After greeting them, Flaky headed into the kitchen to begin baking a delicious cake for Lumpy’s birthday party, while the others stayed in the living room to decorate.

“Alright, just a little more vanilla.”

Flaky applied a small amount of extra vanilla to the mixture, then picked up a spoon and started mixing. As she was doing so, however, Nutty jittered into the kitchen, seeing what she was doing.

“Mmm! That looks tasty!” said Nutty. “Can I try some?”

“No, Nutty.”

Nutty stopped jittering, looking disappointed. “Why not?”

“I’m sorry, but this cake is for the party,” said Flaky. “You really shouldn’t have any before it starts.”

“Oh, okay...”

“Why don’t you go help the others?” Flaky suggested.

Nutty nodded in understanding and made his way out of the kitchen. Flaky sighed in relief and continued mixing. After a few moments, she poured the mixture into a pan and placed it into the oven, then switched it on.

In the living room, everybody was setting up party decorations. Mime was making some balloon animals, The Mole was setting up a pin-the-tail-on-the-unicorn game, Cuddles and Toothy were setting up streamers and a banner that read “Happy Birthday,” and Giggles and Petunia had finished wrapping a good number of gifts.

Nutty looked around for a way to help his friends, but then the punch bowl caught his sights. He went over to it, picked up the box that had made the punch, and looked at it.

“Sugar free?!” He cringed in disbelief.

He put down the box, picked up a bowl of sugar and poured it into the punch. Then he grabbed a ladle and began to stir the punch with it.

“They’ll thank me for this,” said Nutty. “Nobody should EVER have to drink sugar without punch!”

After a few minutes, Flaky heard the timer go off. She put on some oven mitts, took out the pan and set it on a cooling rack. It was a cake now, so she applied some delicious vanilla frosting to the top of it as well as the sides.

“Perfect!” said Flaky.

She used a large spatula to place the cake on a plate, and then covered it up with a platter lid. Then she made her way out of the kitchen, where everyone else had almost finished. Nutty had finished stirring the punch and sampled it, and now it tasted much better.

“Is everything ready?” Flaky asked.

“Yep!” Cuddles replied.

“It took him a couple of tries, but The Mole finally got the unicorn game up,” Toothy pointed out.

“And I got this apple bobbing game up,” Sniffles replied.

“All the presents are ready,” said Giggles.

“And now this punch tastes great!” said Nutty.

“Oh, excellent!” Flaky looked out the window and gasped. Someone was coming, so she ran away from the window to get into the perfect position.

“Quick! Make it look like you’re busy!” Flaky told the others.

They quickly dispersed and did as she was told; Mime performed his act of pretending he was in a box, while the Mole walked around a bit and moved his hand here and there, as if feeling around for something. Cuddles and Toothy entered a conversation, as did Giggles and Petunia; Flaky picked up a nearby spinning noisemaker and began to play with it, while Sniffles switched on the radio and began to dance.

The door opened to reveal Lumpy; when he looked inside, he saw what was going on and gasped in surprise.

“Oh, my goodness...!” Lumpy said to himself.

He made his way inside, looking at the pretty decorations. Everyone saw him come inside, but pretended not to notice at first. Sniffles, however, stopped dancing as soon as he lay his eyes on his best friend, and then he went over to him and gave him a hug. Lumpy was a bit surprised, but he smiled and returned the favor almost immediately.

“Oh, Lumpy!” said Sniffles. “I’m so glad you could make it!”

“I’m glad I could make it, too,” said Lumpy. “This is gonna be so much fun!”

Flaky saw the two of them hug and put down her noisemaker. She turned to her other friends.

“Alright, guys, he’s here!” said Flaky. All of the other Tree Friends looked visibly full of joy.

Flaky brought the cake over to Lumpy while everyone watched. Lumpy looked just as happy as everyone else

“Alright, Lumpy... Make a wish!” said Flaky.

As Lumpy tried to think of something to wish for, Petunia saw some dust bunnies on the floor near the front door, causing her to gasp.

“DUST BUNNIES!” she said aloud.

“Dust bunnies? I’ve never heard of that species before...” Cuddles remarked. He could hear Toothy chuckling over his comment, but he ignored it for the time being. “What are they, Petunia? And where are the dust bunnies?”

Petunia didn’t reply, however. She picked up a nearby broom, went over to the dust bunnies and opened up the door. She swept them out of the house, but as she did so, a gray cloud of dust drifted out from the broom and the clumps. As Lumpy was still trying to think of something he could wish for - he was right beside the front door at the time - the dust floated directly into his nostrils, causing them to tickle quite badly.

“Lumpy?” Flaky asked, a bit curious as to what was going on. When she realized what was going to happen, however, her eyes widened and pupils shrunk. “Uh-oh...”

“Aaah... Haaaah...” Lumpy took a couple of steps back as he inhaled, tilting his upper body back as he did so. As badly as he needed to sneeze, he wanted to make sure he wouldn’t sneeze on anybody. Then he took a final inhale, nostrils flaring as widely as they could, and finally exploded in an adorable fit. “AAAAAAAHHHHHH-- CHOO!!! TCHOO!!! TCHU!!! TCHEW!!! Aaaaah... TCHYIUUU!!!”

Lumpy shot his neck forwards a few times as he released the sneezes, the final one of which - the cutest sneeze of all - blew the candles on the cake right out. Thankfully, nobody was sprayed, although everyone did look at him in disbelief. Lumpy stood where he was, looking a bit sheepish as he rubbed his nose with his forefinger. But then everyone laughed in amusement, making Lumpy feel a bit better.

“Oh, Lumpy, that was so funny and so cute!” Sniffles said.

“Sorry about that...” Petunia said. “And by the way, bless you.”

“Thanks.” Lumpy sniffled, still rubbing his nose as he chuckled with his friends.

Flaky then picked up a knife and began to cut it into pieces, making sure everyone would have enough. After almost a minute, she had finished cutting up the cake. She gave a piece to everyone along with a paper plate and a fork, and then served herself a piece.

Lumpy dipped his fork into the piece of cake, took off a bite and took it into his mouth. The cake and frosting were delicious - but by the time Lumpy had finished it all, he noticed something different. The cake hadn’t made him sneeze.

“That’s odd...” Lumpy said to himself. “I wonder why I didn’t sneeze.”

As he waited for his friends to finish their slices of cake, Lumpy sniffled a couple of times and rubbed his nose gently. But not a single tickle came to his snout.

When Sniffles was done with his cake, he put down his plate and fork, and then looked over at Lumpy with a playful smile. “Hey, Lumpy...”

“Yeah?” Lumpy turned around to look at Sniffles.

“Wanna see something cool I made and brought?” Sniffles reached into his pocket as Lumpy thought, and then nodded. Sniffles then pulled out what looked like a noisemaker.

Lumpy raised an eyebrow in curiosity. “A noisemaker?”

“Yes, but not just any noisemaker.”

Sniffles took a deep breath, then blew directly into one end of the noisemaker. The other end unrolled until it reached Lumpy, revealing that the tip of the end had a robotic hand on it. It began to tickle Lumpy’s tummy, causing him to enter a fit of adorable laughter.

“S-Sniffles!! Hahaha, this isn’t what I wanted!! Hahaha!!” Lumpy laughed.

Sniffles stopped blowing and pulled his mouth away from the noisemaker, causing the hand to stop tickling Lumpy and roll back into place.

“What’s the matter, Lumpy? You ticklish? Hehe!”

“Yeah...” Lumpy blushed as he held his hands over his belly. “But I don’t really want to be tickled right now.”

“And why don’t you?”

“The slice of cake I had, it didn’t make me sneeze,” said Lumpy.

Everyone heard him say that and turned to look at him in disbelief.

“It didn’t?!” Sniffles couldn’t believe it, either. “That’s very unusual of you, Lumpy...”

Lumpy nodded in agreement. “Do you think you could help me sneeze?”

Sniffles then smiled and put away his noisemaker. “Of course, Lumpy!”

He then pulled out a different noisemaker, almost identical in appearance to the one he just tickled Lumpy with.

“Guys?” Sniffles asked to the other Tree Friends. “Stand back; I’m more than ninety-nine percent sure this sneeze is going to be a big one.”

Everyone did as they were told and took a few steps back. Sniffles then took a deep breath and blew into the noisemaker as hard as he could. The other end of the noisemaker began to unroll until it reached Lumpy’s face. The tip of the noisemaker had a little container with the letter P on it, and it began to shake a black substance onto Lumpy’s nose.

Lumpy’s snout began to twitch as his nostrils flared up, and his eyelids lowered. He knew what the substance was; it was pepper. And true to Sniffles’ warning, he did feel a big sneeze coming on.

“Aaaaah... Aaaaaaaaaahhhh... Haaaaaaaaaaah...” Lumpy began to inhale, tilting his neck backwards. He reached up to place his forefinger underneath his nose, but it became clear that it was coming. “AaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAHHHH... HaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH...”

Almost all of the other Tree Friends became scared when they realized what was going to happen. Cuddles held onto his ears, Petunia placed her hands over her mouth, Giggles and Toothy covered their ears with their hands, and Mime and the Mole plugged their ears with their forefingers. Sniffles, however, was the only one who wasn’t worried; he stopped blowing on the noisemaker and made it roll up again, a smile of excitement on his face the entire time.

A final inhale later, Lumpy exploded massively.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-CCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

All of the rooms in Flaky’s house shook for seconds on end as Lumpy released the sneeze, with a huge amount of saliva and a good amount of mucus spraying out of his mouth and nose. Everybody cringed as they heard the sneeze, too.

Lumpy stood where he was, sulking as he rubbed his red, runny nose with his forefinger - the same one he had used in an attempt to hold back the sneeze. He could hear the Tree Friends making all sorts of comments:

“Oh, my goodness!”

“Wow!”

“That was... unbelievable...!”

It wasn’t until Lumpy took a single audible sniffle that all of his friends blessed him. Cuddles and Sniffles said, “Gesundheit!” while Giggles, Petunia, Toothy, Flaky, Nutty and the Mole said, “Bless you!” And since Mime couldn’t speak, he held up a sign that read, “Gesundheit!” as soon as Cuddles and Sniffles had said that.

Lumpy smiled, still rubbing his nose. “Thanks, guys. And thanks, Sniffles - that felt great.”

“You’re welcome,” Sniffles replied with a giggle. “By the way, your sneeze was awesome. Hehehe!”

Petunia, seeing that Lumpy’s nose was a bit drippy, walked up to him and offered him a handkerchief. It was a lavender one with a pattern of small, white flowers.

“Would you like a handkerchief, Lumpy?” Petunia asked.

Lumpy pulled his forefinger away from his nose and accepted it as politely as he could. “Yes, thank you.”

Before he could even touch his nose with the handkerchief, however, Petunia turned around, and the tip of her tail brushed right underneath Lumpy’s nose. He inhaled again and gave a final sneeze - three of them, in fact.

“AAAH-CHOO!!! CHU!!! HAAAH-CHEWWW!!!”

To Petunia’s relief, he managed to cover all of his releases with her handkerchief. And besides, the sneezes sounded adorable. Everyone laughed in amused adoration as Lumpy gave his nose a good rub with his forefinger, and then blew his nose into his handkerchief.

“Bless you, Lumpy!” Sniffles said, giggling.

“Thank you,” Lumpy said as he wiped his cleared nose adorably with the handkerchief.

“Yes, bless you,” Petunia replied. “And I’m sorry...”

“It’s alright.” Lumpy sniffled lightly. “Thank you, too.”

From that point onward, Lumpy enjoyed the rest of his birthday with his friends. He still had to sneeze a few times, but he kept covering them and wiping his nose afterward with the handkerchief Petunia had lent him. He was probably going to need it for a while.

By the way, Lumpy got to open the good amount of presents that his friends had brought him:

Cuddles had given him Mario & Luigi: Sneeze Quest for the Nintendo 3DS. He hadn’t played it himself, only seen the trailers - but the idea of Mario and Luigi saving the day by sneezing a lot was so amusing, he went out and bought a copy for Lumpy.

Giggles had given him a cute blue scarf with yellow polka dots on it. The design of it reminded her of Lumpy’s colors.

Toothy had given him a tissue box that had the Harvey Girls on it. He knew how much Lumpy loved the Harvey Girls, as well as how much he sneezed.

Petunia had given him a handkerchief that looked exactly like the one she’d lent him, in case Lumpy thought he wanted to keep it.

Flaky had given him three pairs of socks, each of which had one of the Harvey Girls on it. One had Audrey, one had Dot and one had Lotta.

Nutty had given him a box of blue raspberry candy, since he knew how much Lumpy loved blue raspberry candy.

Mime had given him a shirt that had the words “Gesundheit” printed onto it, since it reflected how much he sneezed.

And The Mole had given him a coffee mug that had the words, “Bless You” printed on it. Lumpy could tell that it also reflected how much he sneezed every day, and he found it amusing.

Finally, after Lumpy was done opening his presents, he let Sniffles tickle him again with the noisemaker that had the robotic hand on it. Not long afterward, Flaky offered to tickle him next. She was a bit reluctant that something bad would happen when she moved her hands upon his sides, but when she did that, all Lumpy did was laugh. Flaky felt more reassured and kept tickling him, with her and the others giggling over his cute laughter.

Overall, this had been a great birthday - far better than it had turned out to be before Splendid had turned back time. Next year, his friends told themselves and each other, they wouldn’t throw him a surprise party, because a regular birthday party would provide all of the joy and fun they would need.


End file.
